Dance Crazes: The Birdie/Chicken Dance

Blame the Swiss for this one. Written in the 1950s and originally called “The Chicken Dance” by accordion wielding Werner Thomas, this “oom-pah” song was adopted by The Tweets and reached number 2 in the U.K. singles chart of 1981, re-titled “The Birdie Song”.

Rumour has it that the title was changed as a carefully politicized gesture to avoid the unnecessary jibes on the Swiss nation for their neutrality in World War 2.